Fluid ejection apparatus and method of controlling fluid ejection apparatus
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsShintaro Kasai, Yoshinori Misumi, Yuzuru Ishida
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Abstract
A fluid ejection apparatus executes a cleaning process and an ejection operation of ejecting fluid from ejection ports while causing the fluid to flow from a supply port to a fluid collection port of a flow channel provided in a fluid ejection head. Moreover, the fluid ejection apparatus adjusts a flow rate of the fluid flowing in the flow channel to a first flow rate during the ejection operation and adjusts the flow rate of the fluid flowing in the flow channel to a second flow rate higher than the first flow rate at least during the cleaning process.
Claims14
A fluid ejection apparatus comprising:
- a fluid ejection head including a flow channel that extends from a fluid supply port to a fluid collection port, an ejection port that is used to eject fluid, and an ejection element that heats the fluid flowing into the flow channel to eject the fluid from the ejection port;
- a cleaning unit that performs a cleaning process by means of electrochemical reaction between the fluid and a fluid contact portion of the ejection element;
- a fluid flow unit that causes the fluid to flow from the fluid supply port to the fluid collection port of the flow channel in the cleaning process and an ejection operation of ejecting the fluid from the ejection port;
- and
- a flow rate control unit that adjusts a flow rate of the fluid flowing in the flow channel to a first flow rate during the ejection operation and adjusts the flow rate of the fluid flowing in the flow channel to a second flow rate higher than the first flow rate at least during the cleaning process.
A method of controlling a fluid ejection apparatus including:
- a fluid ejection head including a flow channel that allows a fluid flowing in from a fluid supply port to flow out from a fluid collection port, an ejection port that is used to eject part of the fluid flowing into the flow channel, and an ejection element that heats the fluid flowing into the flow channel to eject the fluid from the ejection port;
- a cleaning unit that performs a cleaning process by means of electrochemical reaction between the fluid and a fluid contact portion of the ejection element;
- and
- the fluid flow unit that causes the fluid to flow from the fluid supply port to the fluid collection port of the flow channel, the method comprising the steps of:
- adjusting a flow rate of the fluid flowing in the flow channel to a first flow rate in an ejection operation of ejecting the fluid from the ejection port;
- and
- stopping the ejection operation in the cleaning process and adjusting the flow rate of the fluid flowing in the flow channel to a second flow rate higher than the flow rate of the fluid flowing in the flow channel during the ejection operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.